Have I Got News For You

Mathematician, author and presenter Professor Hannah Fry hosts, with guests Zoe Lyons and Ed Patrick.

With Alan Bates giving evidence at the Post Office inquiry, questions being asked of the finances of Labour's Deputy Leader Angela Rayner, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak needing to apologise for his sartorial choices, a total eclipse and the announcement of a simplified version of Scrabble, the panel certainly weren't short of stories to pull apart this week.

As a UK general election looms this year, first on the agenda was this week's latest from Westminster, as the Tories have made continued calls for Labour's Deputy Leader Angela Rayner to answer questions about her tax affairs, and her primary place of residence.

"There is an issue here in that Labour are announcing a tax clampdown in the same week as Angela Rayner won't publish the details of her capital gains tax. So you can see there is a problem. You're only allowed, even if you're married, to have one principle residence and so people keep saying 'why doesn't she just publish her tax advice and clear the matter up?'" Ian Hislop explained.

"What are the Tories demanding now?" asked host Professor Hannah Fry.

"That she publishes the legal advice," replied Hislop.

"Close. They're saying that 'Starmer must launch a probe into Rayner'" smirked Fry.

"There's a sci-fi film you don't wanna see," joked Zoe Lyons.

"Yes, she is one of the few people in the Labour party with a personality, or perhaps, as David Lammy puts it, she's "northern"," laughed Fry, before continuing, "This is the news that Labour are preparing for power by getting their financial scandals in early, before they become the government.... the accusations emerged in an authorised biography of Rayner, which was titled Red Queen. Annoying, cause that means my biography now has to be called Ginger Lady Boffin."

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was doing the media rounds this week as he looked to connect with Tory voters ahead of a general election announcement. Amongst the more serious questions on Conservative policy, he was also forced to make an apology for his choice of trainers, defend the length of his trousers and talk about his favourite breakfast spot.

"People are saying his trousers are two inches too short. Rishi Sunak passionately defended his trouser length by telling The Sun, 'Well, I don't think they're short'," laughed Fry.

"He's not a tall man, he's probably just wearing long shorts," joked Lyons.

"Where does Rishi Sunak like to go for breakfast? Wetherspoons. He said 'We have one at home in Northallerton. I think I still have the app on my phone'. Which is interesting, because the Wetherspoons app stayed on his phone, but not the WhatsApps!" laughed Fry. "Presumably when the barman asks him 'small vegetarian?', Rishi replies 'yes I am, can I have some breakfast?'"

Later on in the episode, the panels looked at this week's announcement that Mattel will be launching a new version of the game Scrabble, which is 'less competitive', and designed to be more collaborative and accessible for those who find word games intimidating.

"Scrabble has been around for a very long time as a game, and they're going to introduce a new version of it. It's a simpler version but they don't want people to feel bad about it, it's called 'Scrabble for Thickos'," Paul Merton joked.

"I think they were saying that young people are more compassionate, they're less competitive. So they want a version that people aren't trying to win. It's a bit like panel games..." replied Hislop.

"Well it's been clear that you've not been trying to win for 35 years..." joked Merton to his fellow team captain.

"This is the news that Scrabble has been made easier for a younger generation who find the game too intimidating and don't like competition. Here's a fun fact about Scrabble - it's the only realm of human experience where Kwasi Kwarteng has any value," laughed Fry.

Ian Hislop was also given the opportunity to discuss this week's ongoing Post Office inquiry, with Alan Bates, the lead campaigner of justice for subpostmasters, this week giving evidence about his decades-long battle against the Post Office's alleged misconduct. It is a story that Ian's Private Eye magazine have written about continuously over the decades, which Paul Merton wanted to point out.

"900 people denied justice and persecuted for decades and not given any compensation. Now they're finally saying 'oh, those people, yes, yes, we knew they were innocent, we just prosecuted them anyway.' It's an absolute national disgrace," said Hislop.

"Before the post office inquiry resumed this week, what was the new evidence Ian?" asked Fry.

"ITV had a tape of people saying we had told Paula Vennells that Horizon could remotely access and fiddle their accounts. There was that and then there was further evidence in the inquiry this week and it is sort of getting there... it's literally everything that anyone has ever said for two decades is absolutely true," Hislop said.

"I was pleased to see that the BBC did give Private Eye a mention because Private Eye did play a large part in writing about this story for 20 odd years..." Merton pointed out, to applause from the audience. "That's not enough reason to buy it, but you know..." he then quipped.